Retreat in Advance
I think about the above image every time I get out over my skis. I snapped it about two seconds before my friend Johnny sprained his wrist failing to drunkenly leapfrog over our friend Pierre. I love the timing of it. You can see it just dawning on him he is not going to make it free and clear. I know the feeling.
As I set out this blog, my ideal vision was to touch on my most significant travels so far—to establish a contiguous timeline, give context for the lens I present the world through, practice publishing to various mediums, and share some pretty incredible stories and photos along the way. I think I have accomplished some of that, but with a decade left to cover and 48 hours until I land in Guatemala, it is clear I am going to have to throw out the initial premise, issue a mea culpa, and adjust the goalposts and outline. I will have to jump to the present and fill in stories from the past when time allows. The only other option would be to continue writing as I have been while in Guatemala, and that strikes me as an injudicious use of my time and attention. Off the top of my head, here is an incomplete list of stories I will eventually write about:
Backpacking through Japan staying in Buddhist monasteries and homestays
Living in an urban commune called Crunchytown in Melbourne, Australia
Getting Lost in the Australian rainforest
Road tripping through Europe with members of Crunchytown
Teaching English at a refugee center in Greece
Having had cancer
I have already spoken with Quetzaltrekkers (the nonprofit I will be volunteering with) and obtained their permission to publish stories I write there on this blog and will likely be creating content for their website as well. I am also looking into starting a podcast and youtube channel. Two subjects I would like to cover when I can are a brief history of Guatemala and of the Quetzaltrekkers organization. From this point, there will be a moderate hiatus in posts, as I intend to spend a week at a homestay practicing Spanish and will be training with and getting to know the other trail guides around that time. Since these are the primary reasons I am going to Guatemala in the first place, I want to prioritize these responsibilities and make sure I am paying due respect to everyone involved as I become integrated into the community—which, to me, means not being on my phone a lot or spending hours on my computer before I get a chance to know everyone. I will update when I can, but feel free to reach out in the meantime.